Discussion held on safety of Pitt County Schools

Posted: Tue 9:29 PM, Mar 13, 2018&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Tue 11:55 PM, Mar 13, 2018

GREENVILLE, NC (WITN) Tuesday night the lecture hall at J.H. Rose High school was filled with students, staff, parents, local politicians and law enforcement officials for an open discussion about safety concerns in Pitt County Schools.

Pitt County School's Superintendent Ethan Lenker says, "It's not just about making the school buildings themselves safe, it's about what happens next and what do you do when you hear a threat, and as Chief Holtzman said, how do you analyze that threat and make sure everything is alright with that student."

Looking towards the future, people at the meeting provided ideas and suggestions on how they feel these issues could be addressed best. Ideas ranged from increasing the number of school resource officers from the current 14 that cover 11 schools, to officers in all 37 schools.

Students like Tierney Reardon also offered suggestions saying, "We have a lot of ideas but a lot of time we aren't asked for the ideas or we don't feel comfortable sharing them, so I was hoping to create some type of forum or committee to share those ideas."

Lenker also said that all schools have been conducting lockdown drills, along with other emergency drills to prepare students, and said that they are looking at new technological upgrades they could also make to the schools to enhance safety.

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